By V. Sheree Williams
I couldn’t think of a better way to spend National Picnic Day last Saturday than at San Francisco’s Marina with Safeway and over 300 of their best customers, friends, family and of course media. What was the occasion? The launch of Safeway’s new brand, Open Nature™, which promises lots of natural flavor, goodness and most importantly transparency. In addition, the grocery giant set out to break the current World Records® for the longest picnic table, a title that once belonged to New Orleans.
Three years in the making, Safeway worked tirelessly to deliver a line of products that answered the call from customers who “didn’t want to go all the way organic but wanted to get a lot of bad ingredients out of their food,” according to Nancy Cota, Vice President of Consumer Brands.
It was a typical windy day at the marina and we all gathered not just for a sneak peek at the new brand but for a lunch that was created to make history. I have to confess, I was also there to see Chef Tyler Florence who teamed up with Safeway to develop the day’s recipes using Open Nature™ products. “When they said we are doing this product which is about transparency, it’s really all about giving fantastic ingredients. There’s no confusion about the label, what you see is what you get and I think that is what people really want,” Florence shared.
And that is exactly what they are going to get. Open Nature™ products are made from only natural ingredients from natural sources, free of artificial ingredients – no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, additives or preservatives and rBST-free (dairy products only). When asked how the company selected the product categories to launch first, Cota replied, “First we went to consumers and we asked them what categories they were most dissatisfied with today and what were the categories they most wanted to find nature products in. So we have a tremendous mapping of all of those needs and we started with the highest categories first, the ones that they were most dissatisfied with or wanted to see to see nature products in.” When all is said and done, shoppers will enjoy more than 200 products that will include breads, ice cream, packaged meats, fresh meats, pizza, frozen products, salad dressings and Greek and cream top yogurts.
The top question of the day on everyone’s mind was “What is for lunch?” How about summertime potato salad, barbeque chicken and ribs all inspired by the time of year and taking simply flavors and creating the perfect recipe. Before lunch was served, Florence took to the stage to provide an informative demonstration of what we would be sinking our teeth into. I was excited to learn about the technique known “brining.” This involves mixing water, salt, sugar, garlic and thyme into a bowl before pouring into a resealable plastic bag with meat such as chicken and refrigerating for 2 hours. He warned us not to exceed that. This process would allow the salt and seasonings to penetrate the meat. I can’t wait to try this.
During this time, we all sat at the picnic table that would set the record as the longest picnic table in the world. Securing the new record, the table exceeded 305 feet (longer than a football field) to seat 405 people and weigh 11,304 lbs. Keeping with the theme of “all-nature,” the table was built with only Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified Douglas fir that is sustainable. In addition, for every FSC Certified tree that is used, 10 more will be planted. At the end of the event, Safeway planned to dissemble it into 8 foot tables and donate them to parks across the country. Although the official recording was most likely done prior to the event, we all cheered on as the longest measuring table I have ever seen was passed down the table to show us that it was indeed longer that the 248 feet table in New Orleans. Minutes later, Mike Minasi, Vice President of Marketing, was holding the plaque which sealed the accomplishment.
Although we were all strangers for the most part, it was one of the best picnics that I have ever been on. The food was delicious, the dessert of cherry vanilla ice cream with honey nut granola hit the spot and the music got us grooving. As we left, a goodie bag awaited and I am sure for some, it was off to their nearest Safeway store.
Photos by V. Sheree Williams
